Over the past few months, I’ve written about several free online hiking guides here at Go Visit Hawaii. Since those guides were scatter through the site, I thought it would be useful to consolidate all the hiking resources in one post. I plan to keep this post updated as I hear of new guides and helpful information. So, if you know of any new resources, please add them in a comment. (Note: The photo on the left was taken from a hike into the Waimea Canyon on Kauai.)
Na Ala Hele
Let’s start this list with the official state of Hawaii’s hiking trail guide, Na Ala Hele. This guide covers hikes from all the islands, including Lanai and Molokai. It gives you basic trail information such as distance, difficulty, elevation, and approximate time to allow for the hike. The web site provides directions to the trail head and an overview of what you will see. The guide also includes free basic trail maps, which is useful, but lacking in details.
Kauai Explorer
The Kauai Explorer online hiking guide is awesome. The only thing they can do to improve the site is to add more hikes and I think they are working on it. In fact their web site says they are expanding statewide. This guide covers all the basics, plus has hike reviews and virtual tours of the hikes. I look forward to seeing this site expand.
Backyard Oahu
This online hiking guide focused on Oahu’s trails lists over 80 different trails. In addition to the basics like directions to the trail head, distances, difficulties, this site also provides detailed descriptions of the trails and lets you know what to expect. It appears that this great guide is frequently updated.
Additional Hawaii Hiking Resources
On July 21st a new volcano eruption point emerged east of the famous Pu’u O’o crater. Lava has been pooling in the new area. Due to emerging dangers with the latest eruption point, the State of Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources has authorized and ordered a total shutdown of the entire Kahaualea Natural Area Reserve this morning. The purpose of the shutdown is “to protect the public and lives of those that would be put at risk to rescue lost or injured parties” per the official press release.
The Kahaualea Natural Area Reserve is adjacent to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It is normally open to the public and contains hiking trails taking you through Native Hawaiian forest to views of Pu’u O’o.
I captured the following photo of the latest eruption point from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory web camera at approximately 4:30 Hawaii time this morning. To see a live photo of the new lava activity click here. 
After nearly two weeks without any lava visibility at Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano, lava has returned back to the surface at the Pu’u O’o vent. GoVisitHawaii captured this photo from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s camera and saved the photo for you. This photo was taken on July 6th around 4:30 am Hawaii time. The observatory’s camera takes photos of Pu’u O’o captured live every five minutes. Isn’t it amazing?
Last week, I reported about the latest activity of Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano the resulting road and trail closures. Park officials have announced that the 18- mile Chain of Craters Road will reopen tomorrow (June 29th) morning after being closed since June 17th.
Some areas will remain closed and those are:
- Kilauea’s east rift is closed, including Napau Trail and Campsite, and Naulu Trail.
- The parking lot at Mauna Ulu is closed as firefighters continue to carry out fire suppression activities there that include helicopter operations.
- The park’s eastern boundary near Kalapana is closed.
- Pu‘u ‘O‘o is closed. The cinder and spatter cone is extremely unstable and its cataclysmic collapse continues.
I’m really excited to see what happens next with Kilauea. Is this the end of an era or is Pele just taking a temporary break? Cindy Orlando, the Park Superintendent, says,
“Eruptive activity is now at a near all time low relative to the last 25 years. Based on communications with scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, we feel confident that roads and coastal trails can be safely reopened,” said Orlando.
“Kilauea is perhaps the world’s most active volcano. We appreciate the momentary calm, but know better than to be lulled into complacency.”
Use this official park web link to stay up to date with the most recent volcano activity and advisories. If you go, be sure to follow advisories and stay on marked trails.
Pele, the goddess of fire, is working on some additions to the Big Island of Hawaii. New Kilauea volcano activity over recent days has resulted making the island even bigger, but not from new lava flowing into the sea. This time it is from a new dike that is spreading apart. The southeast coastline is now an inch or so bigger as a result. The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has road and area closures due to increase in earthquakes and the new volcano activity. . Here are the current park closures as reported at the park’s official web site:
Park Advisory - June 19, 2007 4:32 p.m.
Road and Area Closures Due to Current Seismic and Volcanic Activity on Kilauea Volcano’s Upper East Rift:
1. Four miles of Crater Rim Drive are closed - from Jaggar Museum to the Chain of Craters Road junction (due to extraordinarily high concentrations of sulfur dioxide gas issuing from Kilauea’s summit caldera).
2. Chain of Craters Road and Hilina Pali Road are closed.
3. The park’s eastern boundary in the Puna district near Kalapana is closed.
4. All east rift and coastal tails are closed.
5. Pu`u `O`o is closed - effective today, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has closed the Captain’s Drive Trail.
Portions of the park do remain open including the visitor’s center, Thurston Lava Tube, and Crater Rim Drive.
To read more about the latest activity, check out these articles from the Honolulu Advertiser and KGMB:
Kilauea magma hiding from volcano scientists
Volcano activity making Big Island a bit bigger
Lava Surfaces in New Spot at Kilauea
Kilauea never ceases to fascinate. Here’s a link to today’s Fox News coverage of Hawaii’s volcano activity. Be sure and watch their video. Also, check out their photos here.
Reports of dramatic a new lava flow into the ocean are popping up across news sites. According to the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, on May 16th, a new ocean lava entry developed. This new entry point is called Poupou
Though new lava flow into the ocean has produced some fascinating video, it is difficult to view without a long and fairly difficult hike. The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s official web site reports:
Currently, lava is flowing into the ocean in a remote area of the park, 4 1/2 miles beyond the ranger station at the end of Chain of Craters Road - a 4 - 6 hour roundtrip hike. Please note that areas of the park(along the coastline) have been closed by the superintendent due to the potential for land collapse.
To find the latest Kilauea Volcano eruption reports, visit the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory web site. They are currently describing the overall eruption viewing opportunities as “scant”. They described the view of the new Poupou entry point as, “Incandescence was visible at the Poupou entry at night.”
Here is another link to a news site that has raw video of the Poupou lava flow into the ocean.
CBS 13
As you may already know, the Big Island just keeps getting bigger because of the lava flowing from Kilauea volcano. Well, on Thursday, the island actually got 16 acres smaller as a lava delta feel off into the sea. It must have been a sight for the Hawaii Volcano Observatory to see. This is what they said in a news release, ” lava sections generated steam plumes reaching 200 feet to 1,000 feet into the air as they fell into the ocean.”
Fortunately, there were no injuries mainly because the section that fell was more than two miles from the park’s viewing site. Park officials warned that the recent collapse have caused large cracks that may result in additional lava collapses. Always be sure to check in at the visitor’s center to find out what the current conditions and hazards are before venturing off into the park. Always heed warning signs as well, they are not there for decoration,but for your safety.
The official park web site reports the closure of Laeapuki lava delta with the following details:
The Lae`apuki lava delta (which is roped off), Wilipea bench, the west Highcastle beach, and the Highcastle beach are closed and marked with area closure signs. These areas are closed because they are extremely unstable and poised to collapse without warning.
Source
